Stocks Slide Ahead of Fed Meeting

Wall Street is often described as a tug-of-war between bulls and bears. Lately, the pace of that struggle has picked up -- and the bears are winning.

For weeks, stocks have swung between strong pops and dizzying declines as investors shift from optimism, inspired by good news such as strong earnings and blockbuster mergers, to jitters about inflation and interest rates. Hundred-point moves by the Dow Jones Industrial Average have...